In 2010, a factory in Cochabamba Bolivia will start producing an energy drink made from coca leaves that will go by the name "Coca Colla" (a play on words, as indigenous Bolivians are sometimes known as Collas or Kollas that comes from the pre-Colombian Colla people of the Antiplano region, esp around lake Titicaca). No packshot yet, but apparently it's going to be dark coloured, sweet and fizzy. Remind you of anything? Find out more in Spanish language links here, here and here.

Or if you prefer, just wait around for the English language newswires to run their snide reports on it.

IKN predicts that in the next 48 to 72 hours there will be a significant increase in the number of commentators, analysts, blogs and general know-it-alls that make predictions about the next 12 months in the markets. Approximately 1% of them will be worth reading.

So this humble corner of cyberspace simply takes this opportunity to wish all readers a healthy, happy and prosperous 2010 (in that order of importance, too).

So we started around $850/oz and finished around $1,100/oz. A rough 30% gain that beat out the 12 month performances of Barrick (ABX), Newmont (NEM), Kinross (KGC), Goldcorp (GG), and Agnico Eagle (AEM).

Those waiting for the big waterfall downmove on gold this morning have been disappointed. Au now at $1,094/oz and getting picked up in light trading. Silver a bit weaker and the gold/silver ratio back to the 65X level. The last week of the year isn't the time to make any trading decisions, really. Window dressing going on and year-end bonuses being traded into.

Riverside Resources (RRI.v) down 18.2% at $0.63 on heavy volumes and getting sold off after this news release today on its Sugarloaf Peak drill results. Subscribers to The IKN Weekly got a Flash update about this stock earlier in the day. They'll also get an interesting mail received by way of reply from CEO Staude as long as I get the dude's permission to pass it on. I own this stock and I'm not selling it today, not at these knockdown prices.

Animas (ANI.v) down 2.9% at $0.66. The action in RRI today reminds me of that overdone drop in ANI to 55c last week. Both of these stocks have been unduly whacked by a market that acts first and thinks later. That's all you're going to get from me on the blog.

Chariot Resources (CHD.to) down 1.3% at $0.37 today, but the stock saw a big run up yesterday on the back of the Corriente Resources sale (and the vertical copper price moves seen these last few days). The world is looking round and trying to find the next big deposit to catch a deal, it seems. Subbers know my thoughts on this; although this stock is tradeable there are at least two other LatAm copper explorers that make more appeal.

New Gold (NGD) down 2.2% at $3.57. Riddle of the day: How are you able to run an open pit mine in Mexico if the authorities have banned you from using explosives? (hint; you can't). NGD was quick to tell the world about the injunction it got from Mexican courts that allowed its Cero San Pedro mine to stay open while enquiries continue into its operating licences. However, it must have slipped their mind that a few days later, another Mex court banned them from using explosives at the mine, thus putting a stop to any real work. But who in Canada gives a damn about a Mexican court anyway? NGD obviously doesn't cos just nine days after being told that they can't use explosives at Cerro San Pedro, NGD just went ahead and blew up its hill, with six detonations registered on December 27th at 12:15pm. Want to know why Canadian mining companies have such a bad reputation in LatAm? Check the facts, note the way "upstanding corporate citizens" like Pierre&Co ride roughshod over countries' laws..... and DYODD.

Amerix Precious Metals (APM.v) UNCH at 6c. Interesting little stock, totally under the radar. Check it out and DYODD as I own a very small amount of these at 5c and 6.5c.

Bolivian news services are today reporting that a warrant for the arrest of Manfred Reyes Villas (and his wife) has been issued by the Cochabamba public ministry dudes. This because Reyes Villas, the runner up in the recent election at 27% and rallying post for the remnants of the racist society being slowly but surely dismantled byEvo, decided yesterday not to turn up in court and respond to the accusations of corruption against him. It all stems back to when Manfred was head honcho of the Cochabamba region and decided to divert public funds for his own use. I mean, nobody has ever really got him to explain how a former army officer and presidential bodyguard managed to end up a few years later with a fortune counted in the tens of millions....all we'd like to do is find out, but Manfred keeps on refusing to have his day in court.

It goes without saying that to the fascist old guard all this is a political witchhunt, but this isn't anything more or less than a "innocent til proven guilty" court case that wants to get to the bottom of things.

Anybody wanna tell me why PCU was at $35 and $36 with copper down at $2.70/lb, and $3/lb but now we're marking $3.30/lb copper PCU is trading $32 and $33?

Suggestion: This copper move is utter bullshit end-of-year pumperooney at the hands of the past masters of market manip, people that put the Comex to shame. You know them as the floor traders of the London Metal Exchange. Meanwhile, the big boy players who run their squillions in copper producers are quietly exiting on strength.

A very interesting article came up on upsidedown world just before Christmas concerning the methods of the junior mining company in South America (Ecuador, to be exact). Written by the author of Ascendant Copper's dsownfall, Carlos Zorrillo, it examines the role of the stock exchange in cases of human rights abuses, using what happened at Intag as its base point. Well worth reading, even if you don't necessarily agree.

Canada-Ecuador: When Stock Exchanges Fuel Human Rights Violations

Recently, Toronto-based Pinetree Capital bought a few million shares of Copper Mesa Mining Corporation, making it the largest share owner of a failing company currently embroiled in a lawsuit. The takeover raised the price of its penny stock upwards to between three and five cents.

Copper Mesa, however, got a lot more than what it bargained for.

Copper Mesa, until last year, was the owner of a couple of mining concessions in the Intag region of Ecuador. But the company ran into a strong, organized opposition from communities, local government and, eventually even the national government, which eventually stripped Copper Mesa of its concessions in the country. The company then had to shed itself of its mining projects in the US to pay off debts, leaving it as empty handed as when it was first aborted.

Needless to say, Copper Mesa’s directors and a select number of employees and shareholders have never been the worse for the disaster they created, which happens to be an established norm in the world of Canadian stock exchange business. The Bre-X case is one which comes to mind. Bre-X was the Canadian company that fleeced thousands of investors of billions of dollars all based on a non-existent gold mine in Indonesia.

Copper Mesa, based in Vancouver, is infamous for other reasons, in addition to wasting millions of dollars on a mining project that has gone nowhere. Its notoriety mostly comes from using the equivalent of paramilitaries in the Junín community to forcefully trying to gain access to its concessions (which they never were able to access even to explore). Interestingly enough, the shootout took place almost exactly three years ago to the day that Pinetree took over the shipwreck called Copper Mesa. The assault against the community of Junin failed completely, but the graphic images and video of ex-military thugs dressed as security personnel shooting at defenseless campesinos went round the world, and is featured on several full-length documentaries about Intag’s successful resistance to mining.

In the rich and varied annals of corporate abuse and stupidity, and in record time, this has become a classic.

Well here we are again and I'm getting all micromanagement-y. Do I really care about the hourly development of the dollar? I'm not sure as yet, but I do have this chart front'n'centre on the battle radar today.

Tuesday, December 29, 2009

This one made me laugh. You have a joint venture option agreement with a big world miner. The project is in the polrisk red hot zone of Chiapas, Mexico. So when the big world miner partner declines the option and hands the property back to you it's made to sound like a distinct advantage and the best thing that could have happened to the company.

HALIFAX, NOVA SCOTIA--(Marketwire - Dec. 29, 2009) - Linear Gold Corp. (TSX:LRR - News; "Linear") announces that it has received notice from Kinross Gold Corporation that they will not exercise their option to acquire an initial 60% interest in the Ixhuatan Project, thereby allowing Linear to maintain its 100% interest in the project. The Ixhuatan Project covers an area of over 98,000 hectares, in Chiapas, Mexico, including the yada yada continues here

Although worryingly (and for the first time ever) some very small-scale coca production areas have been found and erradicated inside Ecuador's borders this year, the country of Ecuador is for all intents and purposes still not a coca or cocaine producer. However it is one of the routes used by South American narcos to smuggle their gear out of the continent and the trend is ever rising, if the latest seizure stats are anything to go by:

The figures are sourced to Ecuador's official National Antinarcotics Directive (Dirección Nacional de Antinarcóticos (DNA).

This is what comes of being bordered by the world's number one cocaine producing country (Colombia) and the world's number two cocaine producing country (Peru) making a product in great demand by the world's biggest economy (The USA). So it goes without saying that all the blame will be pinned on Rafael Correa.

1: the quality or state of being reciprocal: mutual dependence, action, or influence2: a mutual exchange of privileges; specifically: a recognition by one of two countriesor institutions of the validity of licenses or privileges granted by the other

Starting this week, Argentina is now imposing a "reciprocity tax" on tourists arriving from countries that charge its own citizens for visiting rights. The tax levied by Argentina will be in line with the charge made for visas to the other country, so for example US citizens visiting Argentina will have to pay U$131 before getting their passport stamped because that's what the USA charges Argentinians when they want to visit the States. Then Canadians will pay U$70, Australians U$100, etc.

Following on from my snarky insider trading post of yesterday, I received the following from kind read 'M' who makes an excellent point about Canadians disposing shares by gift after he noticed (and I didn't shame on me) that a fair chunk of the Avalon insider disposals were in the official category of "disposition by gift".

As he points out, we're now on December 29th and it might be a bit late get organized, but it's not TOO late. If this post prompts just one person to make a move and give to charity, that's good enough for me. I'll hand it over to 'M' and his mail. Thank you, sir.

Now a better interpretation of this: 47 - Disposition by gift

Now at this time of year this suggests donation to charity, under Canadian tax laws, donations of shares to charities is extremely beneficial for the donor and the recipient. The donor gets a tax deductions for the values on day of donation and ZERO capital gains and the charity get a bigger donation than it would otherwise get. Donation of flow-thru shares under this regime is extremely tax beneficial....As a public service, why don't you encourage your blog readers to donate flow thru shares to charity of their choice before Dec 31 !! ( its a bit late but still) This is probably the case here:

Stock Options If you are considering using employee stock options to make a gift, exercise the options and transfer the shares within 30 days AND within the same calendar year. There will be no capital gain and no taxable employee benefit.

Peru's lead indicator of Chile-related paranoia, known to the world as RPP Radio (the nation's most popular), has today reported on the Chilean government document "Achievements of Foreign Policy" just published to show the Chilean population just how superduper Michelle was before she retires. The bit quoted by RPP is the following (translated by Otto) and makes reference to the maritime border dispute between Peru and Chile that Peru is about to lose in front of the world tribunal at The Hague.

"From the moment of the Peruvian case at The Hague, bilateral relations with Peru suffered a logical recession. For Chile, this presentation was not a friendly gesture but an artificial construction, above all when one considers that the maritime border is judicially defined by two international instruments subscribed to by Peru".

However, what RPP doesn't mention is Chile's most important view regarding its northern neighbour. As the report is 156 pages long and Peru gets about a quarter of a page, the real take away is:

"We don't give a toss about Peru. Can we move on and talk about China and the USA now, please?"

Monday, December 28, 2009

News today from the amusingly unending scam known as Constitution Mining (CMIN.ob) is that Steve McMullan, appointed less than three months ago as a director of the company, has resigned. It comes to something when the dude in charge of all the technical disclosures at that other LatAm scamstock Ecometals (EC.v) (including the shamefaced misleading ones that have to be corrected by TSX) can't stomach what's going on at CMIN and throws in the towel.

My thanks to reader "d" for the headsup. I would have missed the news otherwise as not paying attention to the market today.

Bloomberg reports that Tongling (with a little help from its railway friends) has finally got round to making an offer for Corriente Resources (CTQ.to)(ETQ), the guys with the big copper deposit at Mirador, Ecuador. The price at CAD$8.60 works out at U$8.23 via today's forex. The joint listed Corriente was trading at U$7.64 this morning before the news. Now it's halted. Here's the Bloomie note:

Dec. 28 (Bloomberg) -- China Railway Construction Corp said it plans to jointly bid C$679 million for Corriente Resources Inc., a Canada-based junior mining company, with Tongling Nonferrous Metals Group Holdings Co. A joint venture company set up by the two Chinese companies plans to make an offer of C$8.60 per tradeable Corriente share, according to a statement filed to the Hong Kong stock exchange today.

I've been playing round over at the Cochilco website today as part of some ongoing deeper investigation into copper. As it's a quiet day and I'm feeling all charty, here are a couple of semi-non-seq charts built from the numbers over there; boring for most people but quite fun for wonky metalheads I suppose.

This one shows Codelco's copper output for the decade. The 2009 estimate is made by taking the January to October published production number and extrapolating its registered 16.8% YoY growth for the full 12 months.

This one shows how Codelco has matched up against the BHP La Escondida mine, the world's single largest copper pit.

There are all sorts of other charts I could do with the extensive Cochilco database, but why not go find out for yourself.

We're now at $4.60 a share plus 40c for the spin-off thing in what is now a straight, old fashioned auction scenario that's running up in 20c increments. The market nailed the story last week and it's confirmed today (though it's interesting to note how quickly the revised offer came in).

VANCOUVER, BRITISH COLUMBIA--(Marketwire - 12/27/09) - Canplats Resources Corporation (TSX-V:CPQ - News) ("Canplats" or the "Company") announces that it has received a revised binding proposal from Minera Penmont, S. de R.L. de C.V. ("Penmont") for the acquisition by Penmont of all of the outstanding common shares of Canplats by way of a plan of arrangement ("Revised Penmont Proposal") which is financially superior to the terms of the amended transaction with Goldcorp Inc. ("Goldcorp") announced on December 24, 2009. The Board of Directors of Canplats (the "Canplats Board") has determined, after receiving a recommendation to such effect from its Special Committee and the advice of the financial and legal advisors to the Company, that the proposed agreement with Penmont under the Revised Penmont Proposal is a "superior proposal" for the purposes of the Company's existing business combination agreement with Goldcorp (the "Goldcorp Agreement") and has provided notice of such determination to Goldcorp.

...Peru's production of gold, copper, silver and zinc per month, 2003 to date:

Here's gold

Here's copper

Here's silver

Here's zinc

One chart not here is that for moly, used in yesterday's IKN Weekly as a datapoint for a larger point. So I had the data hanging around after updating the XLS last week and thought they'd make a pretty CoD post. All the phun phacts 'n' phigures are from the Peru mining ministry website. As for analysis and commentary, do your own.

VideoPuno is a city in southeastern Peru, located on the shore of Lake Titicaca. It is known as the folkloric capital of Peru due to its wealth of artistic and cultural expressions, particularly dance.Click the figure below to view the video.